Joyce Meyers, an award-winning poet, will discuss contemporary poetry and read selections from her two most recent books, Twisted Threads (Kelsay Books, 2024), an Independent Books Award Distinguished Favorite, and Stray Moments (Blue Light Press 2025), Winner of the Blue Light Press Poetry Prize. The poems in these two collections explore subjects such as family relationships, love and loss, the natural world and its connection to human society, and our place in the universe. There will be time for questions after the readings, and the books will be available for purchase and signing.

Introduction to Contemporary Poetry

Many people think they dislike poetry because their exposure to it has been limited to 19th Century traditional poetry they read in school, which was often characterized by flowery, formal language, regular patterns of meter and rhyme, and references to gods and mythological heroes that seemed irrelevant to real life.

Contemporary poetry is very different. The language of contemporary poetry is plainer, more direct, and closer to the sound of natural speech. The emphasis is less on formal elements and more on communication, and the subject matter is not about gods and mythical heroes but explores the full range of human life – relationships between people, social and political issues, the natural world, and our place in the universe. What makes poetry different from prose is its use of language to create concrete images that give life to abstract feelings, ideas, experiences, or insights.

Bio for Joyce Meyers

Joyce Meyers has been an English teacher, lawyer, world traveler, and award-winning poet. Her poems have been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Comstock Review, Atlanta Review, Muse Literary Journal, Glimpse, Xanadu, and Caesura. She won Atlanta Review’s 2014 International Poetry Contest and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

A long-time member of the Mad Poets Society, she has participated in numerous workshops and critique groups and done readings in many local venues, including most recently The Manayunk-Roxborough Arts Center, the Community Arts Center (Wallingford), the Philadelphia Meditation Center, and several retirement communities.

Her full-length collection Twisted Threads (Kelsay Books, 2024), was named a Distinguished Favorite by Independent Press Awards, and she won the 2024 Blue Light Poetry Prize for her chapbook Stray Moments (Blue Light Press 2025). Her other books include The Way Back (Kelsay Books 2017), and two chapbooks, Shapes of Love (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and Wild Mushrooms (Plan B Press, 2010).